The Ancient Greek Pharmakos Rituals: A Study in Mistrust
This article examines the role of mistrust – especially in constructions of purity, impurity, and purification – in ancient Greek religion. It begins by examining so-called scapegoat or pharmakos rituals, in which an individual was expelled from the city, apparently as a purificatory offering to the...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Gargar...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
2022
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| En: |
Numen
Año: 2022, Volumen: 69, Número: 5/6, Páginas: 489-516 |
| (Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar: | B
Grecia (Antigüedad)
/ Rito
/ Víctima (Religión)
/ Chivo expiatorio
/ Desconfianza
/ Inseguridad
/ Rito de purificación
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| Clasificaciones IxTheo: | AD Sociología de la religión AG Vida religiosa BE Religiones greco-romanas TB Antigüedad |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
mistrust
B Impurity B Purity B spiritual insecurity B Trust B scapegoat rituals |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Sumario: | This article examines the role of mistrust – especially in constructions of purity, impurity, and purification – in ancient Greek religion. It begins by examining so-called scapegoat or pharmakos rituals, in which an individual was expelled from the city, apparently as a purificatory offering to the gods. Recent analyses have argued that these rituals were outlets for community aggression, and/or were resonant with myths of self-sacrifice. This article will suggest a different analysis of the evidence. I offer an alternative way of interpreting these rituals that sets them in a wider context of Greek ritual and belief: it suggests that the ritual of the pharmakos arose in a context of social and spiritual insecurity. This created, I argue, a prevailing dynamic of social and spiritual mistrust, within which the pharmakos ritual emerged – and which it exacerbated. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341662 |